Fitness (The Fluff Files)
by niraD
Summary: A fluffy one-shot, originally part of "The Fluff Files" collaboration organized by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, featuring our favorite bunny and fox duo.


**Author's Notes:** I wrote this story as part of "The Fluff Files", a collaboration organized by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps. If you haven't read it yet, it is simply an anthology of short, fluffy stories (no more than a single page each). Many thanks to Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps for allowing me to participate in this collaboration.

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His legs were sore. His arms were sore. His abdomen was sore. He might have even said that his tail was sore, if he'd had the energy to speak. Instead he lay face down with his eyes closed, with his tongue hanging out as he gasped for air.

"Nick, are you okay?" He felt his tormentor's gentle touch on his shoulder.

He closed his mouth and inhaled deeply through his nose. His nostrils were filled with the fragrances of the recently mown lawn, of lilacs, of sweaty fox, of sweaty bunny...

"Nick?"

"Uh-h-h-n-n-ngh!" he groaned as he pushed himself over, onto his back. "You're killing me, Carrots."

"Nick, c'mon!"

His right paw slowly moved to check his own pulse. "It's official. I'm dead. One hundred percent. Call it in, Carrots. Time of death-"

"Nick, don't even joke about that. C'mon, our annual physical fitness test is less than two weeks away. We gotta be ready for it."

"Gotta be honest, Fluff. Desk duty for the rest of my life is looking pretty good right now. I could hang out with Clawhauser, discuss the donut of the day, or maybe Gazelle's latest album-"

"You hate Gazelle."

"Not the biggest fan of her music, but unlike a certain bunny, she's never actually tried to kill me."

"Har, har... Look, Nick, you really don't want to be the Academy valedictorian who nearly fails her first physical fitness test a year later."

"Says who?" Then his eyes shot open. From his perspective, lying on the ground, the gray bunny seemed to tower over him. "Wait, what? You nearly failed the test last year?"

Her violet eyes looked left, right, anywhere but at him. "I was distracted... your graduation... my speech... other stuff. The point is, I don't want to have that conversation with Bogo again. And I don't want you to have it either. So get up!"

He felt her paws grip his arm. Then she pulled. "Ow... Ow, ow, ow! Stop! I'll get up on my own. Please?"

She let go, and he forced himself into a sitting position, his head hanging down. "I really appreciate what you're doing for me, Fluff... everything you've done for me... but I'm still really sore from yesterday."

He felt her firm touch on his shoulders, carefully massaging his tired, sore muscles. The sun warmed his back. Her paws moved down his arms, slowly erasing the pain. The trees rustled in the breeze. He closed his eyes and let the tension and soreness float away. He murmured under his breath, "If you were a vixen..."

Her paws froze for a moment, then resumed their work, now massaging his arms more slowly and more deliberately. But his whole body was now tense. She had heard. Of course she had heard; she's a bunny.

"If I were a vixen... what?"

His mind raced, but found no way to continue that thought, other than...

"Do you wish I were a vixen?"

"No, not like that." He pulled away and turned to face her. "I wouldn't wish a fox's life on anyone, especially you."

She took his paw in hers. "Then like what?"

He had let his guard down. And he couldn't unring this bell. "I mean... It's just..."

He closed his eyes. "Judy, how many times, when we've been hanging out together, how many times have mammals asked you if you were okay, if you needed help? I mean, not when we're on duty, or wearing ZPD T-shirts like now, because you are literally the most famous cop in the city. But when we're off duty, wearing civvies, just being friends, and they think you're just a bunny, and I'm just a fox, and... and we're just friends, hanging out. Can you imagine... I mean... what it would be like if... if..."

"If we were more than friends? Yes, I can imagine."

He looked into her violet eyes and took a deep, slow breath. "Wow."

"Did I say something wrong?" Her grip tightened on his paw. "I know vixens are supposed to... you know... but bunnies don't... I mean, a doe and a buck, we don't... and I didn't want to come across like some jerk buck who thinks the world revolves around him, and... and I wasn't really planning to do this now, but then... you said... and... and... Nick?"

A smile covered his muzzle. "Wow, you really have thought about this. A lot."

"Yeah, maybe. And you?"

"Ever since the museum."

"What?"

"Yep. Of course, I didn't think it would ever happen. I mean, a fox with a bunny, you have to admit, seems pretty unlikely."

Her smile was huge. "Yeah, pretty unlikely."

They sat on the lawn, facing each other, until he broke the silence. "So, where do we go from here."

"Well, normally, a buck would ask me out to dinner, or maybe-"

"Judith Laverne Hopps, would you join me for dinner? I mean, not right this instant, but after we get cleaned up and presentable. There's this really nice restaurant I know that's herbivore-friendly. For a special occasion like this-"

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde, I would love to. One hundred percent."

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**Author's Notes:** No, I don't generally ship WildeHopps. I usually prefer stories that explore their friendship, rather than their romance. But plot bunnies are not always well-behaved, and the idea for this story came unbidden shortly after I heard about "The Fluff Files". I hope you enjoyed it!


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